Julie Pörksen will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Berwick constituency at the 2015 general election.
An agricultural economist, Julie grew up in Belsay, Northumberland. She was selected yesterday evening. Julie stood as a candidate in the Northumberland County Council elections last May, slashing the Tory majority in Amble West with Warkworth to one vote.
Sir Alan Beith is standing down at the next election after 40 years as Berwick’s MP.
The Independent today carries an interview with the new Lib Dem Home Office minister, Norman Baker. You know, that minister of conspiracy theories according to some media wags.
In his interview, Baker comes across as eminently sensible and defiantly Liberal. He is poised to reign in Teresa May’s excesses and tells the newspaper that has been told by Nick Clegg to range across all policy areas to “make sure there is a liberal voice clearly heard in the Home Office.”
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has won the 2013 Nobel peace prize.
The Hague-based global chemical weapons watchdog, supported by the United Nations, is currently aiming to help destroy Syria’s chemical weapons capacity by the beginning of November.
Perhaps the silliest proposal in a generally thread-bare Queen’s Speech in May was the Conservatives’ plan to ‘look busy’ on immigration.
Yes, the party that claims to want to cut back red-tape for small businesses decided to try and tie-up private landlords in it by imposing a legal duty on them check the immigration status of new tenants and lodgers. It’s an, erm, interesting approach to regulation, I guess: out-sourcing it to people who’ll have no way of validating the information they’re given.
However, the Tories’ grand plans have been scuppered thanks to the Lib Dems, as The Guardian …
For far too long, the needs of hundreds of thousands of young carers who do incredible things to look after and support members of their family have been overlooked. They pay a big price with their school work, their social lives, and very often their own health.
The role of carers at any age is still not valued or recognised anywhere near enough. This is despite the strides Lib Dems in government have made recognising carers needs and, for the first time, establishing the right in legislation to have these needs assessed.
But, as the Care Bill for adults and the Children and Families Bill passed through parliament in tandem, many of us realised that young carers were once again falling through the gaps. They were not covered by the new rights in the Care Bill and were overlooked by the Children and Families Bill.
MI5 chief Andrew Parker spoke out yesterday against the leaking of intelligence secrets by Edward Snowden to The Guardian, claiming it seriously endangered national security and had given terrorist groups like al-Qa’ida “the gift they need to evade us and strike at will”. Nick Clegg was asked if he agreed on his LBC radio phone-in show, Call Clegg. Here’s what he said:
Nick Ferrari: Deputy Prime Minister, do you agree with the Prime Minister, who says that Andrew Parker, the Security Chief’s warning to the Guardian’s publication of those files handed
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The controversial Lobbying Bill got a clear majority on its third reading has now moved to the Lords. The current text of the bill was robustly defended by Tom Brake in the Commons but many MPs expressed their dissatisfaction with the current drafting, especially Part 2 which constrains the freedom of charities to campaign in election periods.
Forty Lib Dem MPs voted for the bill. Seven voted against: Greg Mulholland, John Pugh, Alan Reid, Adrian Sanders, David Ward, Mark Williams and Roger Williams.
Here is our team voted on the third reading:
Malala is known to all as the Pakistani girl shot through the head and neck after protesting against the Taliban’s closure of girls schools in her region of the Swat valley. Now fully recovered she has been awarded the 2013 European Parliament Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, human rights and democracy.
Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson was the first to put Malala Yousafzai forward as a nominee and led the campaign for her nomination and award in the European Parliament. …
Those of you who have read previous contributions from me to Lib Dem Voice will know that at the very top of my list of priorities as a health minister is to transform the care and support for people with mental health problems. Every year, the Mental Health Foundation – one of Britain’s leading mental health research and policy charities – holds World Mental Health day, to raise awareness of different mental health conditions. Mental health has always struggled to attract the same attention as physical health …
Alistair Carmichael, the newly promoted Secretary of State for Scotland, added his thoughts about the retirement of his colleague Sir Menzies Campbell to those posted yesterday.
The badger cull has always been controversial. It has set wildlife groups and animal lovers against farmers. Many argue that it is being pursued against scientific opinion. And now the cull is struggling to meet its targets. The shooters in Somerset should have delivered 1,015 cadavers but so far they have piled up just 600.
What is going wrong? Defra chief Owen Paterson told the BBC: “the badgers have moved the goalposts.” Shame on badgers for not cooperating with a scheme to kill them!
This trial is not about increasing our scientific knowledge of bovine TB in the badger population. If that was the case, the government would be testing the carcases for TB. It is not. We will never know whether the dead brocks were disease carriers.
The trial is about the efficacy of shooting. And the result is that it is not efficacious.
The Journal, which publishes in the North East, quotes Nissan’s chief operating officer, Toshiyuki Shiga, who says that, as a foreign investor, he hopes that the UK will remain as an EU member. He claims that if the UK decided to leave the EU, the company could potentially experience two ‘obstacles’, namely, UK-specific regulations and standards, and EU imposed import duty.
Nissan’s UK manufacturing plant, which employs over 6000 people, is based in Sunderland.
We told you earlier that Sir Menzies Campbell had announced that he’s retiring as MP for North East Fife in 2015. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and fellow Fife Parliamentarian Willie Rennie had this to say:
Menzies Campbell’s wise and intelligent counsel has guided our nation through some of its most testing dilemmas. From Yugoslavia to Iraq to Syria he has been insightful and calm but never feared standing out from the crowd.
For over thirty five years Ming has dedicated himself to his constituency of North East Fife and in return local people have put their trust in him. He converted a healthy Conservative majority into a healthy Liberal Democrat one.
Ming Campbell excelled in life – from Olympic sprinter to Advocate to political statesman. To have excelled at one would be remarkable but to have excelled at all three is truly astonishing.
Across the UK tens of thousands of aspiring homeowners find themselves in the same situation. They have steady jobs, reasonable incomes, but for them the dream of owning their own home is currently just that-a dream. It’s made even worse by the fact that they can afford the mortgage repayments on a new home.
The one thing holding them back is the cost of a big deposit. And without parents wealthy enough to give them a helping hand these aspiring homeowners will continue to be excluded from the property ladder. I don’t think our housing market should be shut off …
Ming Campbell, Lib Dem MP for North East Fife since 1987, has today announced his decision to retire from the House of Commons at the next election.
It’s been an enormous privilege to have been an MP for 26 years and to represent such a wonderful constituency as North East Fife. My wife and I have made many friends and have been supported by constituents of all political persuasions and none.
It is always a regret to begin the process of retiring from the House of Commons but I believe now is the time to start. I have written to
…
The Welsh Liberal Democrats were delighted to announce yesterday that we are more than doubling the Welsh Pupil Premium.
Two years ago, in a similar situation, we worked with the Welsh Government to ensure that Wales would have our own Welsh Pupil Premium. This meant that each school would get £450 per child on free school meals. This was an achievement we were rightly very proud of. However, while Liberal Democrats in England continued to increase the Pupil Premium, the unambitious Welsh Labour Government refused to do the same in Wales.
We have now changed that. Thanks to the Welsh Liberal Democrats we have more than doubled the value of the Welsh Pupil Premium, increasing funding to £918 per pupil.
My name is Poppy and I have the privilege of working in Tessa Munt’s office and I thought readers would enjoy my take on what is my most exciting week at work to date!
The Monday reshuffle was exciting stuff, I was monitoring twitter all day – that Tim Farron gave me all the updates I needed! I am especially pleased for Susan Kramer going to Transport, we need more girlies in Government. Today I have been working on some messages about what we have done in Government. I started as an apprentice for Tessa so I really like the jobs campaign…also I am enjoying keeping more of what I earn and have bought myself a new sparkly collar this week as I have a special event to go to. Tomorrow I have been given the day off to prepare for my special day on Thursday, where I will be leaving Somerset for the first time and going all the way to London to compete in Parliamentary Dog of the Year!
When the boss lady asked me to go I was thrilled! She said I deserved to go as I have done an excellent job at keeping morale up in the office as well as getting ‘Team Tessa’ fitter. The pressure is high because the Tories always win and I want to be the first Liberal Democrat doggie to win the crown for us. You can help me do this by voting for me here!
In news which will surprise nobody, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes has been re-selected by his local party in Bermondsey and Old Southwark to fight the 2015 General Election as reported by the London SE1 community website.
Simon said:
Since I was first elected, we’ve been through a lot. Fighting to have tube stations in Bermondsey and Southwark, unemployment dropping from nearly 20 per cent to 7 per cent, regeneration of our high streets, and many things that matter to local people like better housing and schools, and more training and jobs.
But little compares to the work I have been
…
I missed it yesterday, but have just caught up with Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander’s (rather flailing) attempts on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme to justify the second stage of the Coalition’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme for folk wanting to buy their own house. You can listen to it here or below.
There are two stages to ‘Help to Buy’. The first, announced by George Osborne earlier this year, offered anyone purchasing a newly built home costing less than £600,000 the opportunity to apply for a 20% government-guaranteed loan with just a 5% deposit. The Economist explains the rationale:
The basic economic thrust makes sense. Rental rates are high in Britain, meaning punishing payments to landlords. Given that a mortgage can be cheaper, wider home ownership could put more disposable cash in Britons’ wallets. In an economy where private consumption accounts for four-fifths of spending cutting housing costs in this way is likely to boost GDP. And since this part of Help to Buy is tied to building, it should work even if the new nests end up in the hands of buy-to-let landlords: a bigger housing stock should drive down rents, and provide jobs for the workers that build them.
The big problem comes with the second stage of ‘Help to Buy’, which breaks the explicit link with new-build housing. From this month, pre-owned property also qualifies. If widely taken up, it will stoke demand among eligible buyers but do nothing to increase supply: a recipe for house price inflation in many areas, especially London and the south-east. That will be good for the equity of home-owners like me, but rubbish for those not yet on the housing ladder who find themselves once again priced out of the market. Here’s The Economist again:
The prospect is unnerving, especially since the new part of the scheme may well distort banks’ incentives by driving a wedge between what they lend and the risks they face. With the housing market already rampant in London—up 20% annually in the trendiest parts of the city—and pepping up in the rest of the country too, Help to Buy is adding heat to a market that does not need it.
The Coalition appears to be banking on the winners from the scheme being happier and more numerous than the losers. Depressingly, there’s a chance they’re right. After all, Margaret Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’ did serious damage to the country’s social housing stock, but was (unsurprisingly) highly popular with those it helped. That said, the latest polling on ‘Help to Buy from YouGov suggests the public, post-credit crunch, is more alert to the dangers of house price inflation than it was: by 58% to 17%, voters reckon the new scheme risks creating a housing bubble.
Danny thinks it’s all worth the risk: “Our housing market has to be opened to a wider range of people,” he says. Don’t we all? The way to do that, though, is by increasing housing supply, not by the kind of blatant market-manipulation the Coalition (rightly) slams Ed Miliband for when he makes similarly ill-thought through promises to fix energy prices.
Here, for posterity’s sake, is Nick Clegg’s speech on Europe from yesterday:
I am a pro-European – that is no great revelation, I know. But sometimes you need to say it, clearly and unambiguously.
The isolationist forces in Britain are on the rise – UKIP on the doorstep; Conservative politicians at their conference; familiar headlines in some of our newspapers each placing Britain’s ills firmly at Brussels’ door: too much immigration, too much crime, too much red tape. And every time Europe is back in the spotlight, their hostility towards it – this negative reaction to all things continental – drowns out the other voices in this debate.
Pro-Europeans have to take some responsibility for that. The moderate and rational voices have been too quiet up until now. But we cannot afford that silence anymore. We are no longer asking if Britain will have a referendum on continued membership, we are asking when Britain will have a referendum on continued membership.
Nick Clegg’s passionate call this morning for everyone who cares about Britain’s future in Europe to speak out will have been music to Lib Dem ears – and those of many more beyond. As Nick said, the antis have had it their way for far too long. Their arguments do not stand up to scrutiny and the pro-European case is just waiting to be made.
As #whyIamIN started to trend on Twitter this morning, I started to think about just why we are better off in …
In the European Parliament earlier today, MEPs backed a Liberal Democrat amendment which will ensure that electronic cigarettes are available for sale on the same basis as tobacco.
The original proposal from the Commission was that e-cigs should be treated as medicines, which would have restricted sales. But the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (the Group to which our Liberal Democrat team belongs) argued that they had a major role to play in reducing tobacco-related deaths. The amendment did require e-cigs to meet safety standards and for …
Nick Clegg’s decision to reshuffle Jeremy Browne out of the Home Office and Norman Baker in has triggered a mini-furore, with plenty on the authoritarian right outraged at his appointment to the Home Office given he’s the author of a book suggesting MI5 covered up the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly.
The best riposte I’ve seen has been from Jonathan Calder over at Liberal England:
Some will question Norman’s conspiracy theories about the death of David Kelly. To that, I would merely point out that in an
…
Miriam González Durántez has written for The Telegraph about how to provide good role models for girls.
She writes:
The UK, and Europe in general, is without any doubt one of the best places in the world to be a woman, if not the best. We can vote, we can work, we can travel, we have access to education, we can own and inherit property, we can speak freely, we are the masters of our own emotional lives. It is often easy to take all this for granted.
And yet while men are able to toy with unlimited options, we still face a series of stark choices. If we do not have children, people assume we are “frustrated”. If we stay at home taking care of our children, it is said we are “not working”. If we have a job, we are portrayed as just “part-time mums”, and sometimes even as bad parents. If we succeed in our professional lives, we’re branded “scary”; if we follow fashion, we’re “shallow”; if we like science, we’re “geeks”; if we read women’s magazines, we’re “fluffy”; and if we defend our rights, we’re “hard”.
Call the Feline Rights Commission! How, in these equality sensitive times, did anyone think it appropriate to set up a beauty contest for MPs’ dogs whilst ignoring all the much-loved cats in MPs’ homes?
Last year’s winner of the Westminster Dog of the Year even got interviewed by Andrew Marr! Where’s the fairness in that? When did you last see him talking with a cat?
Of course, while dogs are owned by their humans, cats own people. So getting my fellow moggies to express our collective opposition to such undeserved canine fame is like – well – herding cats. But a tactical Early Day Motion from a cat-loving Parliamentarian would not go amiss (can you hear me, John Hemming?)
But – I am a Liberal Democrat cat, so I am used to forcing my political loyalties to overcome my distaste. I therefore feel obliged to draw your attention to two of the entries.
Vince Cable has written to his Labour shadow, Chuka Umunna, stating that the sale price for the Royal Mail “reflects the fact the business brings risks, as well as assets such as property”.
When interviewed by the BBC yesterday, Umunna had listed a number of objections to the Government’s valuation at £3.3billion, claiming that it could have been sold for £1billion more.
In his response, Vince Cable said:
It is irresponsible to imply that a share offering looks significantly undervalued.
I think you should consider the risk that you may
…
The Daily Mail’s ludicrous accusations that naval veteran Ralph Miliband hated his country conceal the relevant political question behind all this. Is Marxism a respectable philosophical position to take, or is it dangerous, or even evil?
This debate will sometimes revolve around the overthrow of Russia’s fledgeling democracy in November 1917, the subsequent mass murder and mass starvations committed by the Soviet regime under Lenin and Stalin, the suppression of the Prague Spring and so forth. To what extent can this be ascribed to the influence of Marx, or alternatively understood as a rejection …
David Heath has been sacked as Minister of State for Agriculture and Food at Defra. In his place is North Cornwall Lib Dem MP Dan Rogerson, but at the more junior position of Parliamentary Under Secretary.
In his letter to Heath, Nick Clegg said:
I am very aware of the pressure on you within Defra over the last year, and I am particularly grateful to you for the clarity and objectivity you have brought to issues of animal and plant disease, your defence of environmental issues, your commitment to agriculture and rural areas, and the development of new and exciting policies to enhance our forests.
Four quick thoughts from me on what today’s Lib Dem reshuffle means..
1. Nick feels secure enough to be ruthless.
Sacking both Michael Moore and Jeremy Browne is not something Nick would have been able to contemplate a year ago. Then – with the economy still mired in recession, his apology video still fresh in the memory, and Vince reminding everyone he stood ready, willing and able should the need arise – Nick was vulnerable, in need of allies. Now – with the economy recovering, Eastleigh defended and all key conference votes won – Nick feels able to asset himself.
No sooner do we report Norman Baker’s promotion to the home office than the Prime Minister tweets out the news of his replacement: Baroness (Susan) Kramer, the first Lib Dem candidate for the London mayoralty and later MP for Richmond Park — in which role she helped lead opposition to Labour’s proposals for a third runway at Heathrow. More recently she served as a Lib Dem peer on the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
Baroness Kramer has been appointed as Minister of State at @transportgovuk #reshuffle
— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) October 7, 2013
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